Following a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The King of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a world where no one falters.
